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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29246031">take the big hits</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/RaineyDay/pseuds/RaineyDay'>RaineyDay</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Febuwhump 2021 [5]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Adventure Zone (Podcast)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen, Implied Human Experimentation, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Magnus Burnsides Angst, Magnus Burnsides Needs a Hug, Magnus Burnsides-centric, Temporary Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 01:15:16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,716</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29246031</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/RaineyDay/pseuds/RaineyDay</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Febuwhump day 5: "Take me instead."</p>
<p>There was a reason that Magnus had, thus far, at least, died the most often out of everyone on the ship.</p>
<p>He could take a lot of damage that the rest of them couldn't handle as easily, but he certainly wasn't indestructible. And the knowledge that he would wake up at the start of the next cycle if he died really only made his self-sacrificial tendencies even worse.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Barry Bluejeans &amp; Magnus Burnsides &amp; Davenport &amp; Merle Highchurch &amp; Lucretia &amp; Lup &amp; Taako</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Febuwhump 2021 [5]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2138502</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>febuwhump 2021</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>take the big hits</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hello friends! This one's coming in a little late because yesterday was a hell of a day for me. Wifi went out at my apartment, heat went out in my car, and that caused me to experience mild frostnip (I'm fine now), and then I got into a minor car accident! (Again, fine now) It sure do be like that sometimes, huh?</p>
<p>Anyway, here's day 5's prompt. I'll try to post day 6's today too, but I might be a little late on that one.</p>
<p>As soon as I saw "Take me instead" I knew it had to be a Magnus prompt. I hope you enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>There was a reason that Magnus had, thus far, at least, died the most often out of everyone on the ship.</p>
<p>He could take a lot of damage that the rest of them couldn't handle as easily, but he certainly wasn't indestructible. And the knowledge that he would wake up at the start of the next cycle if he died really only made his self-sacrificial tendencies even worse.</p>
<p>And the rest of the crew was sick of it.</p>
<p>They loved Magnus, and hated when he was gone. They didn't like to see him suffering or hurt, and it was starting to seem like he was going to get badly injured or killed every cycle.</p>
<p>They'd lost Magnus early last cycle, when they'd been ambushed by a group of people from a region other than the one they'd found the Light in. They'd communicated with the leaders of the region where they found the Light, and gotten an agreement to bring it back to the Starblaster, but apparently that information had gotten leaked somehow, and it turned out that the other regions didn't feel that they should be left out of that decision.</p>
<p>It would have been easier to communicate with the other region earlier and explain their reasoning for taking the Light, but instead they'd had a tense stand off between the crew and the plane's natives.</p>
<p>Eventually, they managed to convince the natives that it was in the best interest of everyone for them to take the Light back to the Starblaster, but the natives had groused at the idea of losing out on the knowledge they could gain from the Light.</p>
<p>When it had started to look as though they might decide to attack and keep the Light for themselves despite everything, Magnus had intervened.</p>
<p>See, the thing about Magnus is that he understands people. He's a charmer and he likes to be social and he worries about everyone. And a large part of that empathy and extroversion comes from understanding what people want and what they've been through. What motivates them.</p>
<p>He figured out what motivated the natives and offered it to them before any of the rest of them could protest.</p>
<p>"Take me instead," he'd offered, to the confusion of the other crew members. Why would the natives want Magnus?</p>
<p>But the fact of the matter was that the natives weren't fools. They understood that something unusual was happening, and they were unwilling to risk the idea that the IPRE crew were lying about the importance of the Light leaving this plane.</p>
<p>They didn't really want to keep the Light itself after that. They just wanted something to sweeten the pot before they let the rest of them go.</p>
<p>And the chance to study a real live alien was a sufficient sweetener to these scientifically minded monsters.</p>
<p>When they'd understood Mangus' offer, the crew protested, of course, but they were not standing in a safe spot. And the longer they argued, the more they risked the lives of the rest of them, and the opportunity to bring the Light back to the ship and escape at the end of the year.</p>
<p>In the end, Captain Davenport made the call to retreat. It broke his heart to leave Magnus to the devices of these beings, but it wasn't worst the risk that they would decide not to believe them about the Light, or to decide to look for a different way to preserve their world from the Hunger that didn't require the crew of the Starblaster.</p>
<p>They'd communicated with the leaders of the region they'd found the Light in, hoping for help in retrieving Magnus, which they did receive, but by the time they worked through all the legalities and diplomatic necessities, he'd already been killed.</p>
<p>There was nothing to do but grieve and wait for the next cycle to begin.</p>
<p>-</p>
<p>Magnus was greeted with a round of very enthusiastic hugs when he reformed.</p>
<p>"Hi guys!" he said, smiling brightly at the rest of them. It had been a rough cycle from his perspective, and he was so glad to see his family and to be out of that situation.</p>
<p>He was a little concerned about how upset and angry everyone looked past their enthusiasm at seeing him again.</p>
<p>Lucretia was clinging tightly to his side, so he leaned down to her and spoke.</p>
<p>"What's wrong?"</p>
<p>Lucretia gave him a shocked look, and said nothing, glancing around to the rest of the crew as if asking what she was supposed to say to that.</p>
<p>"You fuckin' left us, is what's wrong!" Taako said, extricating himself from the hug to punch Magnus in the shoulder. Even after getting out of the hug, though, he didn't go far, hovering nearby but safely out of hug range.</p>
<p>"I- I had to do something. I knew I'd be okay," Magnus said, uncertain why they were all taking this so badly. Sure, it had sucked, but he'd gotten through it. And everything was fine now.</p>
<p>"You didn't have to do that. We could have found another solution," Captain Davenport said, sternly, but Magnus could see that he was worried behind it. He'd participated in the group hug for even less time than Taako, but that was okay. They were still working on getting him to let go of his shell of professionalism, and it had made Magnus happy that he'd joined the hug at all.</p>
<p>"I know it wasn't the best plan, but we didn't have a lot of time to find a better one," Magnus argued, a tiny bit annoyed at the stern tone that he was being met with. "I knew the risks and I was willing to take them."</p>
<p>"You can't just throw yourself in danger without even telling us what you're thinking," Davenport admonished.</p>
<p>"I'm the security officer. It's my job to do that," Magnus retorted, and now the hug was starting to break up in light of the argument. Magnus missed it, but he was too upset to let go of the fight. He knew that he was young for this position, and that everyone else on the crew save Lucretia was years and years older than him, but that didn't mean that they could treat him like a child.</p>
<p>"What kind of security officer leaves a bunch of magic users to defend ourselves for a year, huh?" Taako said. "Not a very good one."</p>
<p>Magnus felt a little taken aback by the words, and shrunk in on himself a little.</p>
<p>"I have to protect you guys," he said. "I don't try to die early, but sometimes-"</p>
<p>"You don't always get a choice, I get that," Lup interjected, "but Taako has a point. You want to protect us, but you can't do that when you get yourself killed and leave us without you."</p>
<p>"And you had a choice this time, buddy," Barry said, softly. "You offered to go with them, even though you knew what would happen."</p>
<p>"You guys don't need me <em>that</em> much," Magnus argued. "I'm good and everything, but you have offensive spells. And Merle and Barry can fight alright, if they gotta."</p>
<p>"Of course we need you Magnus! We need everyone. But we also just like you and like having you around," Lup said. "You're a lot of fun, big guy."</p>
<p>"But I'm not as important as the rest of you," Magnus said.</p>
<p>Everyone else stilled, and he wasn't quite sure why.</p>
<p>"What's that supposed to mean, bud?" Merle asked, his tone as careful as he was capable of.</p>
<p>"I can't help with the engine or studying the Light or the science stuff. But I can protect people. That's the- I mean, I'm good at other stuff yeah, but that's the thing that's relevant to the mission. The rest of you- I mean, like I said, Merle and Barry can fight, but Merle is a healer too, and Barry knows the engine and the science. Nobody else can take over those jobs as easily as they can take over mine," Magnus explained. It seemed pretty obvious to him. He wasn't trying to be self-deprecating or anything, it was just about the relevance of their individual skill sets. His skills were largely less useful than the rest of them.</p>
<p>"Magnus-" Merle said, in a extremely soft tone, but he couldn't seem to figure out what to say and he stopped talking.</p>
<p>No one else really seemed to know either, and the room went very quiet, until Lucretia broke the silence.</p>
<p>"What about me? I'm just the chronicler, and there's no one to record the mission for anymore. I'm even less useful than you. Should I start sacrificing myself at the drop of a hat?" she asked.</p>
<p>"No!" Magnus said, horrified that she'd even ask it. "That's not what I meant!"</p>
<p>"Then why is it okay for you?" Lucretia demanded.</p>
<p>"It's my job-" Magnus started.</p>
<p>"No, it isn't. Your job description does not ask you to get killed for us," Davenport said, body tense and tail twitching angrily.</p>
<p>"Security officers do accept certain risks, though! And this mission has even more of them than more security jobs!" Magnus said.</p>
<p>"This mission has gone completely ass-over-tea-kettle, my dude. I don't think your job title really matters that much anymore," Taako said.</p>
<p>"But my job still does! You guys do!" Magnus responded. They had to understand. He wasn't trying to be reckless, just practical.</p>
<p>"So do you," Barry said. "We missed you."</p>
<p>"We aren't asking you to stop doing your job, Magnus. We just want you to be more careful," Davenport said, stepping closer and giving Magnus a quick hug. "Please take care of yourself too."</p>
<p>Magnus melted into the embrace, and, seeing the reaction, the rest of them rejoined the hug, even Taako, offering whatever comfort they could.</p>
<p>"Last cycle was some real bad shit, guys," Magnus finally said, quietly. "Did not like it. Do not recommend."</p>
<p>"It's okay, buddy. You're safe now," Merle offered.</p>
<p>Magnus let himself drop to the floor, and the rest of them followed. He let himself think about all the awful shit he'd been going through, and he didn't try to stop the tears that fell after that.</p>
<p>Surrounded by his family, he let himself break. He was safe. He was loved. It was going to be okay.</p>
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